


Schara

by amaresu



Category: Cal Leandros - Thurman
Genre: Darkling!Caliban, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-16
Updated: 2010-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-07 07:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaresu/pseuds/amaresu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A scar results from the biologic process of wound repair, thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process.  Not all wounds are physical, but they all form scars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Schara

**Author's Note:**

  * For [extraonions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/extraonions/gifts).



> Beta'd by persiflage_1, with much gratitude from me.

It seemed depressingly typical to Cal that his first real date with Delilah was also going to be his last. It'd started out nice enough, sidewalk vendor hot dogs eaten on the way to the Coney Island. More junk food while there and Delilah competing with him over who could win the best prize at the games. It had been nice. Cal knows he should've been paying more attention to where they were headed, but Delilah had been commenting on how much she liked his new coat and somehow he failed to realize just what building they'd walked into until he turned a corner and found himself surrounded by mirrors.

He's a bit fuzzy on what happened next, just that there's the familiar sensation of a gate opening and then he's in his room, sitting with his back pushed into the corner facing the door, arms curled around his knees as he tries to keep from shaking apart. Some unknown amount of time later Niko walks into the room. He's got a cell phone in his hand and it's only when Cal sees Niko's mouth moving that he realizes he can't hear anything. Just the blood pounding in his ears. Niko looks at him with worry, and Cal is so tired of making Niko worry, before sitting down next to him.

There's a sucking sound as Niko puts a hand on his shoulder and suddenly he can hear again. He looks over at Niko and tries to smile, "I'm okay Cyrano."

He gets a frown in response before Niko holds the phone to his ear again and says a quick, "He's okay" before hanging up. The frown stays as Niko does a visual inspection, keeping his hand on Cal's shoulder. "Are you?"

"I said I was, didn't I?" He keeps himself from shrugging off Niko's hand, but dislodges it anyways as he stretches out his legs. It's hard to admit to Niko why it happened, but he deserves the ass kicking Niko will give him tomorrow. "I wasn't paying attention to where we were going."

Niko doesn't respond to the comment, instead pulling him to his feet. "Delilah will be here shortly."

"What? Why?" Cal resists being pulled out of his room, but it's Niko and there isn't really anything he can do to stop his brother.

Pushing him towards the living room Niko sighs, like once again he can't believe that Cal hasn't picked up on something important. "Perhaps because you freaked out and gated away from her without warning?"

And, yeah, that's a pretty good reason. Which is how he finds himself sitting on the couch, nervously rolling a can of coke between his hands, waiting for Delilah to get there. He doesn't think she'll stay long after he tells her what happened. He's sure it'll go over great, he'll tell her that he has a phobia of mirrors, and she'll grin and drag him out to finish their date. Sure.

Instead she looked at him from across the couch and grinned at him. "Darkling is dead?"

The main concern to any wolf, knowing that the enemy was dead. "Yeah, the bastard is dead."

"Good." Her smiled turned a bit more wicked, "Pretty boy show me his room now?"

It was only Niko's snort of laughter that kept Cal from asking her anymore questions. Instead he smiled back and stood up, leading her down the hall. Later, while he watched Delilah get dressed, he asked the question that had been bothering him. "It doesn't bother you? The mirror thing?"

"Scars are scars." She looked at his coat lying on the floor, clearly debating whether or not she was going to take it. "You survived, Darkling didn't."

And that was that. Cal marveled at her ability to lay it out in such a simple manner. Scars were scars, they didn't matter if they were on the body or the mind, and wolves were always proud of their scars. It seemed too simple, but before he could argue the point she grabbed his coat from the floor and put it on, then walked out.

Given the choice between thinking about what Delilah had said, being annoyed at another lost coat, or sleeping Cal, went for the one that fit his nature better. Several hours later he managed to crawl out of bed and wander into the kitchen only to have a set of keys thrown at him. Snatching them out of the air he barely acknowledged Niko's "go check the mail" before he headed out the door.

They didn't check the box very often, it wasn't like they had a lot of people sending them things. Instead they just cleaned out the junk mail once a week. So it was a bit of a surprise when Cal found the package nestled among the coupon leaflets. It was even more of a surprise to see that it was from George. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and he turned it over a few times before sitting on the steps to open it.  
Ripping open the paper Cal found himself staring at a harmonica. He didn't know anything about harmonicas, but it looked like it might be of better quality then the ones he had seen as prizes at the booths last night. Turning it over in his hands he could almost imagine just how it would sound before he soundly pushed it out of his mind. Closing a fist around it he barely kept himself from throwing the harmonica across the lobby. The only thing that kept him from doing so was the firm belief that George wouldn't do something so cruel without a reason. George understood just what Darkling had done to him. Instead he shoved the rest of the junk into the garbage and went back upstairs.

Thirty minutes and several half-sarcastic, half-worried comments from Niko later, and he was on the street, feet pounding over the pavement. It wasn't a secret that he wasn't a fan of running, but over the last few months he'd come to appreciate it for letting him think and keep busy at the same time. It did leave him with only one conclusion though, George had to have known what day the harmonica would arrive so she had to have known what happened the previous night. It was George and these were the sorts of things she did. Which left him with only Delilah's words to think on and reach a conclusion with.

Scars are scars.

Which was how Cal found himself two days later at the library checking out a book on how to play the harmonica. He still thought he was somewhat insane for actually thinking about doing it, but that didn't stop him. He couldn't spend the rest of his life avoiding music, so perhaps it was time to finally let this wound heal and scar over. He didn't tell Niko what he was doing though, instead he sat in his room reading the book and practicing the techniques without actually making a sound. Not that he honestly though Niko didn't know what he was doing, but he knew Niko would respect his decision to remain silent.

It was a week later when he finally managed to make himself play the thing. It wasn't the anything Cal would call music, but he finished the song. Putting down the harmonica he felt like he'd just run across the city, and almost failed to see Niko walk into his room and sit down on the bed next to him. "Are you going to tell me what's going on now?"

"George sent me a harmonica." It wasn't what Niko wanted to know, but it was a starting point. Niko didn't push, just sat waiting for him to continue. "I think she wanted to help. In her way."

"I'm surprised you didn't just throw it away." Niko's voice was carefully neutral. "It seems unusual that you'd decide to learn how to play it."

Cal snorted and looked at the metal instrument in his hand. "I almost did. It was something Delilah told me that stopped me."

"Oh?" The honest curiosity in Niko's voice made Cal smile. It wasn't often he got to surprise his brother and he thought he might just have succeeded. Taking advice from anyone was a rare enough event after all.

"Scars are scars." He fiddled with the harmonica rather then looking at his brother. "It was after I freaked out over the mirrors. I think she meant that it doesn't matter whether they're physical or mental, scars are there."

"And wolves wear their scars with pride." There was amusement in Niko's voice, but also understanding. Cal felt a gentle pull on his hair and looked up at his brother. "Play some more for me."

And that was that. The next song wasn't much better than the previous, but it was easier to play and Cal thought that perhaps the one after that would be even easier. One day he might even be able to produce something half way decent. Until then he knew Niko would listen and try not to wince at the missed notes.


End file.
